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Red Hat was fortunate to have Lee Jourdan and Shuchi Sharma participate in Red Hat Coffee Hour’s discussion of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). We discussed what it is, why it is important for modern organizations and the best ways to implement it at work.
After holding the position of Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer (CDIO) at Chevron, Lee Jourdan is an accomplished advocate for diversity, equity, and inclusion at the executive level. Jourdan first noticed the lack of persons of color in decision-making positions at the top of his business early in his career. His main goal was to influence the company’s culture for the better.
Vice President and Chief Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Officer of Red Hat is Shuchi Sharma. Sharma, an immigrant from India, was raised to value hard work, saving money, and giving back to society despite racism and other difficulties. She was motivated to work for social justice in her own life by her grandpa, a freedom warrior for India’s independence.
The following six important points from this discussion with Jourdan and Sharma can assist your company in effectively incorporating DEI.
Becoming a purpose-driven organization—a company that focuses and takes action on something broader than its goods and services—is a great way to structure your approach to DEI. When DEI is one of an organization’s guiding principles, it prioritizes its stakeholders and concentrates on involving communities with all kinds of various affinities. Such a company must make sure that everyone is treated with respect, is made to feel at home, and is allowed to voice their opinions.
Increased productivity, better interpersonal connections, and greater business potential can all be achieved by incorporating a sense of purpose into everything your company does. Leaders in such a group should take great care to ensure that no affinity is excluded, not even unintentionally. As people are more driven to perform better and be more engaged when they feel included, inclusion is a great method to offer value. You may enhance your employees’ satisfaction and output by making sure they feel included.
Any DEI endeavor should clearly state its “why.” Employees will feel empowered to make decisions when the reasons for embracing DEI are understood and effectively communicated inside your organization, and the culture of diversity and inclusion will start to take on a life of its own. You want individuals to recognize the advantages of their actions. Inclusion and equity are moral requirements that are important in creating a better culture and even better society. But there are other practical reasons for supporting DEI.
Here is a useful example. Sharma believes that experiencing diversity is like listening to an orchestra, where each instrument has its unique tone, rhythm, and personality. However, the pieces come together to form something more than the sum of their parts. In this approach, bringing together individuals from different backgrounds results in special combinations of the characteristics that make us human. This combination of skills can accomplish things that have never been done before.
Diversity can give you a competitive advantage as well. Your employees’ sense of learning, collaboration, and agency can be inspired by moving in the direction of a more important goal. As a result, there will be more innovation as people with different perspectives work together to develop solutions.
Senior leadership is responsible for setting DEI goals, sharing data, bringing the organization together, and promoting responsibility. It’s important to be aware of who can be overlooked, to fill in any organizational blind spots, and to take your company hierarchy into account.
It can be important to remove those hierarchical obstacles to ensure that top leaders are well-informed on issues that might not affect their day-to-day experience. Jourdan advises “mutual mentorship,” also known as “reverse mentorship,” which pairs a leader with a worker from a different background so they can both learn from and understand each other’s adventures.
Your workplace will not experience inclusion by mistake. It needs to be carefully encouraged. It is important to actively work to broaden the perspectives of your company’s employees, including everyone in discussions, and find and remove barriers for those who face them.
It can be important for people in positions of privilege to actively engage in study, seek out discourse, and change on an individual level. Step up, ask the tough questions, and don’t be scared to make a mistaken statement. Genuine change results from open discussions.
Organizations should talk about what needs to change, but it can be equally vital to share success stories. Celebrating DEI accomplishments is an excellent approach to keeping motivation and focus.
Organizations looking to enhance DEI should think about enhancing data transparency related to representation and promotion. Employees can contribute to more fair workplace patterns by being given access to specific data. To ensure there is no disparity in promotion rates between gender, race, or other affinities, some organizations provide promotion data in addition to representation data.
Making ensuring that these concerns are well-lit and that information is easily accessible will help keep this topic on the front, ensure that the organization’s commitment to change is supported by facts, and ensure that real progress is accomplished.
A purpose-driven business helps its people to embrace their identities, which is one of its advantages. We may all become more productive at what we do when we know that we are loved for who we are. An organization that welcomes workers from all backgrounds and connections gains access to a far wider and more diverse talent pool.
Jourdan presents an excellent example of a project he worked on that tried to rewrite the history of neurodiversity by fostering a work atmosphere that was accepting of people with autism spectrum disorders. This program helped them realize their potential by seeing to their needs, and several of the interns were ultimately hired on a full-time basis.
Here at CourseMonster, we know how hard it may be to find the right time and funds for training. We provide effective training programs that enable you to select the training option that best meets the demands of your company.
For more information, please get in touch with one of our course advisers today or contact us at training@coursemonster.com
